Apartment Above Stark Industries, Friday Afternoon

[imafuturist]

Tony shot up, one hand immediately going to his now perfectly normal chest before registering where he was.

"Time'z'it?" he mumbled, pressing the heel of his hand against the bridge of his nose stabilize the pounding in his head as he quickly silenced all the data feeds surging in at once. Again, no clue how natural telepaths lived like this all the time.

"It is currently 1:26 P.M. Eastern standard time," JARVIS supplied helpfully.

He untangled himself from the throw blanket and sat up on the couch to glare at where Fox News was still quietly playing on the TV. Because Tony was a masochist.

Ugh, naps were simultaneously the best and worst things in the world.

[for the housemate!]

Comments

[imafuturist]

"But we have been to the moon," Tony said. "So, that has to count for something."

[heroic_jawline]

"That counts for a lot," Steve said, smiling. "Not sure it balances out the Cold War and the nuclear weapons, but..."

[imafuturist]

"You say that now, but just wait until you get to go to space."

[heroic_jawline]

"I'm going to go to space?" Steve said, eyes lighting up. "Not on the floating helicarrier, right?"

[imafuturist]

"SWORD?" Marvel really thought they were clever.

[heroic_jawline]

"Does it stand for 'Super Whirling Overpriced Ridiculous Dingy?'" Steve asked hopefully.

[imafuturist]

No, but that did make Tony crack up. It was a good thing his coffee was already gone.

"No, no. Sentient World Observation and Response Department. They really wanted to make SWORD and SHIELD happen."

[heroic_jawline]

"But at what price," Steve murmured, smiling softly. "In my day, we had acronyms that made sense, like FUBAR and SNAFU."

[imafuturist]

"And went by Captain America," Tony pointed out dryly.

[heroic_jawline]

"There was also that," Steve agreed.

[imafuturist]

"Ridiculous names are our thing anymore."

Just ask Thor. God of thunder.

[heroic_jawline]

Steve snickered. "Sure, Iron Man's real restrained."

[imafuturist]

"I would have at least picked the correct metal," Tony replied. "Although based on the original suit, I would have been Spare Parts and Scrap Metal Man. Which is just a mouthful."

[heroic_jawline]

"Give SHIELD an hour and they'd make a ham-fisted acronym out of it," Steve mumbled.

[imafuturist]

"In no way is SHIELD allowed to name me," Tony replied. "I'll stick with the inaccurate Iron Man instead."

As opposed to the invincible Iron Man. Or superior Iron Man. Or... look, there were a lot.

[heroic_jawline]

"Iron would be a little heavy to fly in, huh?" Steve guessed.

[imafuturist]

"One of the reasons," Tony granted him, watching the little robot on screen be fascinated by space. "Other reason being it would be incredibly difficult to stop the kind of firepower I run into with just pure iron. I like not having holes in me."

[heroic_jawline]

"I like you not having holes in you either," Steve said. "Because if they're shooting at you, they're probably shooting at me too."

[imafuturist]

Well, Tony really couldn't deny that. "You make it sound like I've dragged you into that sort of situation."

[heroic_jawline]

"Not too long after the first time I met you, I was getting shot at while you were trying to kick-start a busted helicarrier engine from the inside," Steve said. "It was memorable."

[imafuturist]

"...okay so I might be a bad influence."

[heroic_jawline]

"Sometimes," Steve agreed.

[imafuturist]

"But I am also fun," Tony replied, half confidence, half covered up concern.

[heroic_jawline]

"You're definitely fun," Steve said. "This movie is very fun."

[imafuturist]

"I'll get you to like other scifi too," Tony said, a little relieved. "Especially if you like space."

Please don't show him Alien, Tony.